'Watchmen' Panel-to-Screen Comparison

One of the most wonderful things about geekdom on the Internet is how fast it sets to work. The Watchmen trailer hasn't even been out for 24 hours, and already folks are analyzing its every second -- with one dedicated fan comparing its frames to the panels of the original book. The hardworking one is Brad Brevet over at Rope of Silicon, and he really has done a great job. If you decide to look, and are unfamiliar with the source material, beware of spoilers.

As he did with 300, Zack Snyder has really managed to bring the frames to life. His eye for this is uncanny. There are few comic book adaptations where one gets goosebumps, or jumps out of their seat and says "It looks just like the book!" Of course, Snyder has tweaked it -- he's changed the costumes, and he's given it his own style -- but it's still better than I ever thought it would be. Whether he brings the book to life is, of course, the million dollar question. I'm happy just being entertained by the possibility, though.

For me personally, the money shots were the funeral, Jon being ripped apart into particles, and Archie the Owlship. Even my sister, who loathed the book, is in love with the faithful rendering of Archie. The shot of it flying out of the water is actually enough to convince her to buy a ticket. (I'm not sure why, but let's just leave that up to her.) And surely if she can be sold on it, the rest of us can be too.

Watchmen opens March 6th, 2009.

UPDATE: Warners sent us over a whole new crop of Watchmen photos. Check them out in the gallery below ...